Appreciation
by Blu Rose
Summary: In which the mayor rewards Isabelle for her much appreciated hard work. (A New Leaf oneshot.)


While I was (obsessively) waiting for the next Naruto chapter translation to come out, I decided to write a short fan fic to pass the time. Instead of doing that Naruto one shot whose plot bunny tends to hop around in my brain, I decided on Animal Crossing because I regret and don't regret deleting my old 3DS save for New Leaf because losing all my progress is sad, but better than my town going to hell and my villagers either moving, hating me or forgetting about me. Plus, I'm one of the hundreds of people who think you should have the option to give gifts to special characters, especially Isabelle. I originally posted this on tumblr, so please don't mind if it looks a bit weird.

_Summary: In which the mayor decides to reward Isabelle for all her hard work._

_X-X-X_

"Here you go, Lily: a dozen turnips," I said as I handed the basket full of turnips to Lily. The frog stared at the basket's contents in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm? O-oh, no! Nothing's wrong at all!" Lily exclaimed, fidgeting in place. "It's just that, well… When I said I wanted you to get me an ingredient to make something new, I thought you'd bring me some fruit or fish…"

"Yeah, well…" I smiled and scratched the back of my neck. "I once had some turnips left over in my fridge, so I decided to look up a recipe and use them to make my dinner once. It turned out to taste better than I expected!"

Lily held a hand to her cheek, looking thoughtful. "Really? I'll be honest: I've never really tasted a turnip before, _zzrrbbitt_. At least, I don't think so."

"Want me to give you the recipe I used?" Knowing Lily, she'd probably figure out how to make a tastier version of the recipe she found online. The frog smiled brightly and nodded. "Well first, you need—" Before I could give the details, the sound of the bell rang, signaling the start of a new hour. My eyes immediately looked in the direction of the town hall. "…I just remembered that I have some important business to take care of, Lily. Let's meet up at your house later and I'll give you the recipe there."

"Alright. I'll see you later then!" Lily waved goodbye before she walked down the path and I headed for the town hall.

This was a normal routine for me. Every hour, I'd head to the town hall to check up on Isabelle, my assistant. She was the one who took care of most of the legal stuff and the paper work. She rarely ever lets me help her, and when she does, she gives me less than a third of the amount she looks into: basically, she gets a mountain of paperwork while I get an _anthill_. I felt compelled to always check in on her to make sure she didn't overwork herself.

"Afternoon, Isabelle!" I spoke as cheerfully as I could while closing the door behind me. "I've come to see if you…need…help." Isabelle wasn't standing behind the counter as usual. Instead, she was sleeping on the black leather loveseat in the waiting area, mumbling things in her sleep. "Isabelle?" I walked up to the dog and stared at her. "…I don't think I've ever seen her sleeping lying _down_." I could've been a jerk and woke her up, but she works too hard for me to disturb her sleep.

"Mm… Rainbows…pancakes…coffee…ball…"

I stared at my secretary in confusion. "…Okay." Deciding to leave her alone, I thought about finishing up the rest of the paperwork for her. …No. No, they were already arranged on the right side of her desk, which she always did with papers that she finished. And what a ridiculously big pile of papers it was. "Oh, Izzie, Izzie, Izzie. No wonder you've conked out right now…" She always did stuff like this, brushing it off and saying that it was all part of her job. "Mm-hm. That does it. You're getting a reward whether you want it or not."

_X-X-X_

Several minutes later, I came back to the town hall, awkwardly holding a paper bag and a pair of Styrofoam cups that all held the Roost's logo on them. The door wound up slamming shut behind me, causing Isabelle to wake from her sleep and sit up abruptly. "BALL!" She shouted, her tongue sticking out and her tail wagging. Isabelle noticed me and seemed to freeze in shock. "Um…this isn't what it looks like!"

"Yes, it is."

"…Yes, it is…" Isabelle mumbled sadly, getting off the chair. "I-It was only supposed to be a little nap! I'll get right back to work!"

"But you finished all your work," I reminded her. "And for that, you deserve a reward. Here, take this." I lightly shook one cup of coffee. "One Mocha coffee with lots of milk and three spoons of sugar, right? And I also got some éclairs for the both of us. I hope you don't hate those."

"No, no. That's fine," Isabelle said as she took the cup of coffee and the paper bag. "You really didn't have to do this."

"Of course I do! I'd be an awful mayor and an even worse friend if I never rewarded you for all your hard work." Isabelle blushed, her cheeks turning bright pink for a moment as she smiled brightly, and that got _me_ to smile. "Now c'mon! Brewster would throw a fit if he knew we let his coffee get cold before drinking it!" Once we were both outside, I closed the door behind us and we began our walk to the park side by side.


End file.
